Using research to promote inclusion and equity in education

The development of a methodology

Abstract

This paper focuses on a major challenge facing education systems across the world, that of finding ways of including all children and young people in schools. Faced with this challenge, there is evidence of an increased interest in the idea of making schools more inclusive and education systems more equitable. This paper explores the implications of this for the roles of research and researchers by tracing the development of a methodology that has proved to be helpful. The approach involves teams of university researchers in supporting, recording and analysing collaborative developments with practitioners and policy makers. The paper explains how this can encourage knowledge generation as researcher and practitioner expertise meet in particular sites aimed at finding ways in which broad values can be realised in practice. Looking at examples of the use of this approach, the paper goes on to explore the sorts of challenges and possibilities regarding the role of researchers that have to be addressed for it to be implemented successfully. These are much about making diverse expertise visible, developing new professional relationships and crossing social boundaries.